Pilgrim's Progress - 5th March 2010
When I was young and religiously inclined, it was a sore disappointment to me that I never heard the voice of God.
After all, in what I read and heard, people seemed to hear Him all the time in the olden days.
As I matured, my disappointment faded and I grew to accept that God didn't talk out loud any more – or perhaps He never did, perhaps they were all just stories.
Then Ethel became my patient. She was very old and unpleasantly cantankerous. She lived alone and was terminally ill, yet rejected anyone who offered help. She railed against her impending death and tolerated us only because we offered relief from her pain. We bore her anger, but our relationship was fraught and often unpleasant.
Near her end, the need for pain relief increased. One night, as I gave her the injection to ease her 'til morning, I said my usual goodnight and "see you tomorrow". She opened her eyes and said, weakly, but clearly "Don't tell lies. I won't be here. I'll be up there". She closed her eyes again and slept. She died that night.
The starkness of her final words shook me. I realised that I had heard a most powerful sermon on death. The afterlife became almost tangible; she was there and I was here. I couldn't help but wonder what image of me she'd taken with her.
Perhaps I had not listened properly before, but God does speak with so many voices,and sometimesthrough the most unlikely sources.
Where does this Lent fit into this? Well, is not Lent intended to tune our spiritual ears, so that we will hear loudly and clearly the Good News at its end?
Dr Ron Mulroy St Peter & St Paul's Wakefield
Churches Together are at www.wdco.org/site/Churches-Together-in-Wakefield
Pilgrim's Progress is edited by Nick Shields
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Wakefield
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
